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EP. 21 - Gdansk & Buenos Aires 2025 Regional Recaps
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Hello, everyone! This is Episode 21 of "The Show 6 Podcast", where we bring you the highest quality coverage of the Play! Pokémon Championship Series for Pokémon GO! We explore the plays, the players, and everything else happening in the competitive scene.
This week, we talk about the Gdańsk and Buenos Aires Regional Championships, where TontonBatteuse cooked the competition, and Nesabethan stole Gold! Alolan Raticate wins its first Regional Championship, Azumarill is almost ubiquitous, Dunsparce is rolling into top usage, and Nesabethan shows that Shadow Quagsire still has the sauce! These topics, and a whole lot more! We hope you enjoy this episode. Leave us a review on whichever platform you are listening!
With that said, if you're ready, Lock In, press play, and good luck, have fun!
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Transcript
Introduction to Championship Series
00:00:01
William Dunphey
Welcome in into the show six podcasts where we break down the championship series for Pokemon go today. We're taking a look at the Gdańsk and Buenos Aires regionals where 96 and 58 trainers competed respectively. We'll discuss the clash of Europe's reverse engineer and the master of seasoning in the grand finals of Gdańsk and how Nezobethan journeyed down to Argentina and escaped with a golden treasure. That and much, much more. So if you're ready, let's lock in and good luck. Have fun.
Meet the Hosts: Speediest Chief 2 and Z's Wireless
00:00:55
William Dunphey
Well, well, well, guess who's back. It's speediest chief two with my illustrious co-host who seems to be either a regional champion or runner up every other weekend. The Z's wireless. How are you feeling my friend?
00:01:07
Zzweilous
Hello, hello, hello. I think it is tradition at this point that every every year in fall, I bring an XXL steel type to a regional and I reach the grand finals. So I am feeling great. I am feeling great. It has been a week since Gdansk and it has been a blast. Not a week since Gdansk, but the regional itself.
00:01:26
William Dunphey
Of course, as his tradition, as as was um originally created in that South Park episode ah with the Canadian traditions, you know, as his tradition, Z's Wireless arrives with his XXL steel, you know, I think that's the vibe we're going for. ah But we had some really fun regional championships.
Focus on Gdańsk Regional Championship
00:01:42
William Dunphey
For this episode, we are going to cover Gdansk mostly, and that's just because for the Buenos Aires regional championship, we did not have a live stream for it.
00:01:51
William Dunphey
Um, I guess we could talk with the players and get a little bit more information from them. So stay tuned for the next episode. I might, I might bug Nessa be thin, go into his, his DMS or something and see what's up. But, uh, for now we'll talk about teams. We'll talk about the meta shift. And I know there's a lot of anticipation for LAIC as well. So I'm very curious, uh, to hear the different perspectives because, uh, as wireless, you've been a trainer on the ground, so to speak, battling it out recently. And then I've kind of been. watching from the sidelines and i think that uh we're gonna have some interesting theories for laic but first of all i think we could dive into meta trends of gedansk how are we feeling because i did the laic pre-show just a few days ago and i said there have been four phases in the meta the first was was clod sire for alligator
00:02:37
William Dunphey
The second phase was diggers be toxapex. The third phase was area dose and Malamar. And now we're heading into a fourth phase. And I didn't expect that fourth phase to be a zoom roll done sparse. Apparently.
00:02:51
Zzweilous
So, yeah, i'm very I'm very curious as to what the next phase of the meta will be. um Because if you if you remember the Gdaan's original top 12 graphics, um I think Ariados actually managed to sneak all the way up there to to the top spot. And that is Pokemon that has not been even considered at all when the season first started.
Meta Trends and Unique Strategies
00:03:15
Zzweilous
so say a very dynamic meta, and it kind of mirrors in a way the way um the meta was dynamic just a year ago, and also in Gdansk, also a certain Frenchman by the name of Tonton Matus piloted an arctobax, a sea king, and what was the last one, like a clefable I think?
00:03:35
Zzweilous
Like three really wild and out there picks all the way to the grand finals, and well he's he's done it again folks, he's he's been at it, and he ah this time
00:03:35
William Dunphey
I think so.
00:03:47
Zzweilous
Even Aptis, around from last year, took it all at the Gdansk Regional Championship with an Alolan radicate. And I don't know whether that is the meta that we find ourselves in, the Alolan radicate meta. But it's it is certainly a dynamic meta that allows for a ton of spice.
00:04:06
William Dunphey
Absolutely. I think the Alolan Raticate might be an outstanding pick that we don't see that often. I mean, it takes a really special trainer to make that Pokemon work. ah But two other Pokemon I wanted to shout out to ah was actually number four overall, Uden with Dragapult. Making top four with Dragapult is devious work. That is absolutely impressive. But not to be outdone was Patoman coming in sixth with Golisopod.
00:04:31
William Dunphey
So he wasn't only rocking Ariados, he had double bugs. He was bringing Ariados and Golisopod on his team. I'm really interested, uh, to, to kind of learn how that worked for him or if he thinks that's a pick going forward, because it seems like a GBL mon, but, uh, it seems to be doing well in Gdansk as well.
00:04:45
Zzweilous
i
00:04:46
William Dunphey
Um, but a lot of standout picks, right? I mean, did you see anything in Gdansk that shocked to you? Did you, did you have Golisopod Dragapult on your radar or did you get a different read?
00:04:57
Zzweilous
So I was actually GBL-ing a lot with Dragapult not ahead of the Gdansk regional, but ahead of the Dortmund regional. and I was like, oh, this thing is actually fun. Astonish does it like a truck. It's essentially like most people agree that Mudslap is currently the best fast move in the meta. And Astonish is Mudslap just as a ghost type. So ah you get the 10 energy per per move and you get a ton of damage output, which really suits a Pokemon like well.
00:05:26
Zzweilous
It has a 35 energy charge attack and breaking swipe, which is quite powerful still with ah with a stab bonus. And it also is really oppressive when it gets to out damage a Pokemon in terms of fast moves. Because even though we have some fast profession in the meta, a lot of Pokemon like Ariados, like Azumarill, which Dragapult can actually beat with ah one bait, um they don't do all that much fast move damage.
00:05:56
Zzweilous
I thought Dragon Bolt was interesting, but I did opt for the Shadow Drifblim in that role on my team, which was actually fairly similar to Odin's in in some way, um because we both had that Pangoro alongside a Ghost-type.
00:06:12
Zzweilous
ah His role was arguably a little spicier, but um at least it allowed me to essentially astonish it down in the head-to-head, so I'm thankful for that to my Drifblim, but
00:06:23
William Dunphey
Absolutely. Yeah.
00:06:24
Zzweilous
Certainly a standout pick, and I think both the Dragapult and the Golisopod could be really interesting going forward, because um if you watch the regional, both Patuman and Odin brought their signature Pokémon a ton of times. It was not just a a mascot, it was a Pokémon they relied upon a lot.
00:06:48
Zzweilous
And both of these Pokemon also have a really good matchup into Annihilape, which might be a new force going into the next meta and the LAIC championship.
00:06:58
William Dunphey
Yeah, I've been looking at Annihilape really closely. I think everybody was really hyped up ah to see how that Pokémon would play in GBL. I've faced a lot of other other friends over the past few days. Like, for example, I battled Dray Flames. He was using ah Shadow Annihilate, but if I'm not mistaken, I was using the regular one.
00:07:16
William Dunphey
And we kind of messaged after the game and talked about the matchups and the situations. I also saw that um It's Axon and Dunebug did a a duo stream where they did show six practice. And it was to test out this new Annihilate meta. And if I'm not mistaken, I think Dunebug only used Pangoro. He did not use either of the apes. And meanwhile, Axon was using Annihilate. And then there are those you know crazy people like myself.
00:07:42
William Dunphey
who are not using either of those, and they're actually using a different monkey, which is orangutan and orangaroo, excuse me, I get those two mixed up, orangaroo, because that's also been an interesting, interesting core breaker. So, yeah, um I'm really curious how much ape presence we'll see going forward. And I do like that you pointed out some of these picks do have some some holdout strength over that, because I think a lot of people are looking at their GBL teams or their show six teams. ah For example, I saw Palasha ah She's preparing for LA I see. And she basically said I'm having a mental breakdown right now I don't know how to prep for the new meta with annihilate. She tweeted that out. And I completely understand because we don't know how much it'll show up or how impactful it will be.
Exciting Matches and Standout Performances
00:08:26
William Dunphey
but um We're going to talk more about that ah pretty soon. For Gdańsk though, um I do want to say that I did watch some of the stream. I didn't watch all of it. or I didn't do my 2x speed mute stream VOD watch ah strategy that I did last time, but I did get some interesting matches.
00:08:44
William Dunphey
And and this isn't even like... I know you're the co-hosts wireless, but this isn't even like personal or biased, but my favorite series of the entire tournament had to be you versus Scoffo in the losers finals.
00:08:50
Zzweilous
but
00:08:57
William Dunphey
It just had to be. And, and I want to be clear here. I've got a ton of love for Scoffo. Uh, Scoffo helped me to get, uh, my fiance and her aunt into the venue at Yokohama because he had extra, uh, competitor or spectator pass.
00:09:12
William Dunphey
And Skofo also traded me a 98 lucky Necrozma in the airport before we were leaving Hawaii. So I've got a lot of appreciation for Skofo, but my goodness, did you demolish Skofo in that loser's finals? And a lot of it was just alignment and team reading. I know we're going to talk about the grand finals, but I also want to hear your thoughts on that series because that was brutal.
00:09:34
Zzweilous
So I will have to say that, ah like first of all, I want to preface it with um me wanting to express that I'm really happy for Skaafu that he finally um earned his first medal. I don't know whether he received it yet because actually they didn't have the medals for at least the Go competitors at the venue in Gdansk. So it will be in the mail eventually. um But like the same way we sometimes talk about, oh, like um Some people like go up to people like Arrow and just like when when they then hear that he actually isn't a regional champion yet, they are all confused and they're like, oh, did I? I'm fairly certain that I remember Arrow winning a regional championship.
00:10:19
Zzweilous
because he's come so close so many times and he's such an accomplished and and strong battler. And it's like the the Mandela effect that you remember a thing differently than it actually was because it feels so likely that this must have happened. And for some people it's championships and for Scarfo it was the medal. Like people had him in conversations for the best European battler after his 2023 world showing.
00:10:45
Zzweilous
and for good reason because he's consistently strong in GBL, he's consistently strong at the regional level but and just hadn't reached that final threshold to a medal yet um and so I'm really really happy that he got to have this um biggest success of his um play Pokemon career at that level yet um but also and it was a little bit of a grudge match because
00:11:06
William Dunphey
Hmm. Mm hmm.
00:11:12
Zzweilous
It wasn't the first time um I faced Scarfo in a Play Pokemon setting. The very first time came in the winners round. It was like the first winners match on day two of EU I see this year.
00:11:24
William Dunphey
Mm hmm.
00:11:26
Zzweilous
And I was really happy with my place against Scarfo. but I got crunch debuff twice. So even though I caught the lines and I played it just fine, I had like a 9% chance of losing that game and I lost that game and I was not happy about it.
00:11:44
Zzweilous
And it's fine. Like that's why you run a move like crunch. Like you have that debuff chance and sometimes you get it. And that is just the game that we play. Like VGC players have it all the time where they get like a critical hit.
00:11:52
William Dunphey
Mm
00:11:56
Zzweilous
And I just felt like I got a critical hit and got knocked down to the loser's bracket and that matchup.
00:11:56
William Dunphey
-hmm.
00:12:01
Zzweilous
And I wanted to show to myself that I can actually like leave no margin of error in in a match like that, because those matches, not only did did I get unlucky, I also played kind of sloppily from an alignment advantage that I i did.
00:12:08
William Dunphey
Mm-hmm.
00:12:21
Zzweilous
through like some line calls and I didn't want that to happen again. So when I let my Gastrodon into Skafo's Claude Sire, I immediately tapped the Pangoro because I knew he would save swap something that was weak to it. Like nobody, like especially not a high level player such as Skafo, would stay in and do a fast attack with Claude Sire against Gastrodon.
00:12:45
Zzweilous
And I had to be quick because if I wouldn't immediately swap in the Pangoro, a Feraligata save swap could actually take a shield with the Hydro Cannon.
00:12:51
William Dunphey
Yep.
00:12:54
Zzweilous
So I just save swapped the fighter into the poison type and it turned out to be the game-winning play. And everything that followed was essentially just playing out the RPS and just really not letting go of the lead that I got with that positive alignment that I that i achieved through the line calls and I was I was like on like really on top of my game there and really proud of how I anticipated that and I I knew that it would be so difficult versus Tonton in the grand finals so if I wanted to put on a show I needed to do it here and i'm I'm really happy that I managed to achieve that.
00:13:37
William Dunphey
Yeah, and and to be clear to everybody, ah maybe if you didn't watch the stream or didn't see that matchup in particular, it literally went like this. It was, okay, we picked our Pokemon, we locked in, battle begins. Three, two, the Pokemon come out of their Pokeballs. Swylus sees the lead. He sees that he's won the lead.
00:13:55
William Dunphey
three two one switch immediately instantly blind i call it a blind switch because you have no idea what your opponent is about to do but like you said your knowledge of the shielding scenarios and scaffos as well told you that if you didn't make the instant simultaneous blind switch then you would have been in real trouble. So Scott felt even stays in that matchup for a half second and realizes that you sent out the Pangoro. He could just stay with the Claude Sire and make your life really, really difficult. um to To recap, that matchup was also ah play by play or or not play by play, excuse me, Pokemon but by Pokemon. So while this led Gasteron into Claude Sire, which we know is absolutely dominant soul crushing, he then blindswapped Pangoro met by the Shadow Gator, which is generally pretty good for the Pangoro.
00:14:42
William Dunphey
especially an even energy, even shields. And then the third matchup was, was wireless is Azumarill versus Galarian Maltrus. So this wasn't like, you know, uh, I hard one lead, but then things got dicey. This was a hard one lead. I made the right play on the swap and the, the closing matchup was never in doubt. So, uh, that was really impressive to watch. And you did the same thing in game number two. Um,
00:15:05
William Dunphey
leading Magna Zone into Feraligatr. So after seeing that, that Claude Sire lead in game one, you're like, yeah, I'm going to leave Magna Zone game two, which again, just in retrospect seems kind of mental, but given, given how you were already in your opponent's head at that point, it made total sense. And, um, I just got to say the final play of game two is what really set out to me because that Feraligatr man, after it double crunch, debuffed your, your lantern, right? Lantern to EUIC.
00:15:33
Zzweilous
I think that was it, yeah.
00:15:34
William Dunphey
Yeah, after a double crunch, debuff your lantern. I knew that for alligator had it coming. And the final play of the game, you had the mirror shot loaded. You had the wild charge loaded. There were no more shields that shadow for alligator limped out of the poker ball with bandages on it and bruises.
00:15:49
William Dunphey
It had two HP and you fired off the wild charge. That was like dropping a toaster in a bathtub. You wanted that thing gone. And you were like, this is.
00:15:56
Zzweilous
I was hoping for the move to KO for sure. I was hoping for the move to KO.
00:16:01
William Dunphey
Yeah. Well, even even the commentators, right? Amanda and Tomahawk were like, I don't know if this is enough. We're going to find out. And I think it could have KO'd three for alligators if you line them all up. Right. So again, uh, you want, you ended up winning game three as well.
00:16:14
William Dunphey
Right. A direct sweep for you.
00:16:17
Zzweilous
Yeah, yeah, yeah. um So like the Magnezone call, it essentially comes down to, okay, you play a certain line in game number one, um and you expect your opponent to adapt to it.
00:16:18
William Dunphey
Yeah.
00:16:29
Zzweilous
And what would be what would be a way to adapt to an opponent that just played Gastrodon Pangoro Core?
00:16:29
William Dunphey
Mm.
00:16:37
Zzweilous
because Ariados with its typing that resists um fighting tap damage and trailblaze that it paces really quickly too and has amazing double super effective damage output against the Gastrodon and might seem like a great core breaker, right? So I figured, okay, Ariados will be somewhere and I'll just ah just try to catch it with Magnezone. And I like, I originally built my team to safe swap Gastrodon
00:17:06
William Dunphey
Mm hmm.
00:17:06
Zzweilous
and then draw out the Ariados and take a shield in the zeros because Gastron actually wins the zero shields against Ariados just barely. So that would free up my Azu in the back and it would get farm on the Magnezone and that would have been the entire strategy.
00:17:23
Zzweilous
Um, but yeah, if you lead the magnet zone into a Feraligator and then you are met by a safe swap Ariados, that does make things easier because then you just win by core breaking and aligning and RPSing.
00:17:34
Zzweilous
And I won by RPS a lot this weekend. So part of it is team composition.
00:17:38
William Dunphey
yeah
00:17:41
Zzweilous
ah Part of it is line calls. I don't think there is only like. So one thing I will say, if you RPS somebody once, that can still be luck. If you RPS away ah all the way to the grand finals, then it's likely, there is likely something more to it.
00:17:57
William Dunphey
Yeah, I think you you kind of, um at least we mentioned him earlier, you at least spiritually invoked a little bit of arrow gameplay where you just make the the right calls over and over again, and you're able to just...
00:18:09
Zzweilous
Also, i did I did such an error in the grand finals where the last game, the final game of the entire tournament came down to me leading Gastron into a superior and having Azu in the back. so
00:18:23
William Dunphey
ah Yeah, I remember. Yeah, yeah. so um
00:18:25
Zzweilous
So... This is how you finish second place, guys. This is how you finish second place.
00:18:30
William Dunphey
Yeah, I think that, um, and I really want to hear your thoughts on this because I feel like you and Tonton gave one of the best, uh, pre grand finals interviews that I've ever seen. Uh, he was friendly. There was banter. There were some great jokes and you were also very realistic with your expectations, but.
00:18:48
William Dunphey
Um, just, just to highlight one more time, the, the madness of leading shadow magnet zone into scaffold's team and how confident you were scaffold's full team composition was shadow for alligator, Claude sire, area dose, Galarian, Moltres, gastron and shadow, Alolan sand slash. So he had two ground types.
00:19:07
William Dunphey
Plus a sand slasher could could provide cover and of course shadow for alligator can also dish out damage So leading shadow magnet zone into a double ground team You've got to be really really certain of what you saw in game number one and what you expect to see in game number two But uh looking into the the grand finals Uh again, if you haven't watched that that pre grand finals interview, it was hilarious ah My favorite quote right we are already well aware that tom tom has alolan radcade on his team my favorite quote From my co-host, I saw a movie once and apparently the best cooking in France is done with a rat involved. And the ratatouille reference absolutely rattled me. I was, I was cackling.
00:19:47
Zzweilous
ratled Yeah, yeah, I see what you did there.
00:19:49
William Dunphey
Yeah, yeah. Just borrow your page from from your ah your book as well. ah Yeah, absolutely. i I was cackling. I just couldn't believe it. I was like, man, he said it. He actually said it. So you also made another comment. You said that, unfortunately, I lost the grand finals when we registered our teams on on whatever it was, Friday night, Saturday morning, whatever the deadline was, I had already lost the grand finals.
00:20:12
William Dunphey
So, uh, to give everyone just, just kind of a bird's eye view before we jump to the grand finals, uh, Zs Wireless had Azumarole, Gastrodon, Ariados, Shadow, Driftflimb, Pangoro, and Magnezone, not Shadow, by the way, to, to, um, Palaszus, Chagrin. And then we had, uh, Tantan Batus with Shadow for Alligator, Claude Sire, Charge a Bug, Talonflame, Alone Rakeid, and Superior. I need to hear your thoughts. How, how did you already lose this grand finals before you even started?
00:20:42
Zzweilous
So I was banking on the meta looking a certain way. And I knew that there were like a few Pokemon that would be really high in usage. And I wanted to really hard cover for them and make it really difficult for people to build cores around them. For example, the top two Pokemon, like if we look at the top eight in Gdansk, we had seven Azumarals, six Ariados.
00:21:09
Zzweilous
Guess who has none of these two on their team? It is it is Tonson, and he does not have the Azu, he does not have an Ariados. So what is my Magnezone targeting? My Magnezone was the genius pick to break apart that core and um now I could still use it as like...
00:21:19
William Dunphey
to
00:21:27
Zzweilous
the soft answer to a Shadow for Alligator, um a fairly neutral pick into most of Tauntaun's team. But like the main purpose for one of the stars of my team was kind of gone.
00:21:38
Zzweilous
And and there's also the fact that um a Shadow for Alligator up one Shadow Claw, as we talked about, can basically take a shield from everything on my team.
00:21:42
William Dunphey
Mm. Mm hmm.
00:21:50
Zzweilous
Because even though I do have some Pokemon that can answer it fairly well, Magnuson gets outpaced. Pangoro needs to be on even energy, Ariados needs to be on even energy, and Gastroon, like, it's so-so, it's neutral, Azu, so-so, it's neutral, but typically not the most winning matchups for for either of those, and Shadow Driftland just has a miserable matchup.
00:22:14
Zzweilous
um So that would be a problem. Then there was Talonflame, which I was debating whether I should bring Shadow Quaxile or Gastrodon as my Mudboy on the line essentially. And I did go for Gastrodon just because of the more consistent fast-move damage.
00:22:37
Zzweilous
um But it also meant that this Water Pokemon was another liability against opposing Talonflame. So essentially, my hardest answer to Talonflame was Azumarill.
00:22:52
Zzweilous
And that didn't look great into a team against which it had one winning matchup, which is like talent fame. Then another that against Raticate that can flip and Raticate was not going to come because it didn't look great in my team. And then four losing ones. So bringing my only answer, which is a soft answer that can even lose the zeros, not great.
00:23:18
Zzweilous
Um, and yeah, then I essentially, I think I relied on Pangoro a lot in the grand finals.
00:23:23
William Dunphey
Uh huh.
00:23:24
Zzweilous
Um, because Pangoro has insane pacing. It needs eight turns to get to one Night Slash and two Night Slash almost knock out a Talonflame. So you actually can just out-spam a Talonflame that you make the one shields really close and sometimes you can even take the two shields. But I think my Pangoro specifically is not good enough IV to actually pull that off.
00:23:50
Zzweilous
So it was a soft check to Talonflame and I relied on it a lot, but it wasn't a great answer. um Then there is Charger bug on Tauntaun's team, and another Pokémon that I don't think we saw anywhere else in the entire top 16, but if if the best player in the tournament has it, at some point you won't be able to avoid it.
00:24:13
William Dunphey
Mhmm.
00:24:14
Zzweilous
um That conveniently breaks my Pangoro Driftling Core, which is another combination of two Pokémon that I really relied upon.
00:24:16
William Dunphey
Mhmm.
00:24:21
Zzweilous
And then like my my last final straw at playing something safe would have been the Ariados if it wasn't for the Talonflame that was there to punish me.
00:24:31
William Dunphey
Yeah.
00:24:31
Zzweilous
um So yeah, that and also the superior, which Shatstan Azu, Shatstan Gastron has positive match ups against Matmasone and Pangoro. um and There were just too many Pokemon and I couldn't account for all of them at once. So I'm honestly really happy with not getting swept in either the winners' finals or the grand finals. Because if I didn't call every single line perfectly and also played it super cleanly,
00:25:00
Zzweilous
Um, I don't think there was any way of me beating Tom Tom's team comp with what I brought because I targeted an established meta that I saw in the previous tournament. And he also did that, but he did it in a very different and off meta way with like costed iron to outlandish like talent flame superior has been seen before, but he just.
00:25:23
Zzweilous
complimented them with Pokemon that essentially shut down any safe play I had and then it was just downhill from there.
00:25:32
William Dunphey
Yeah, i I feel like, um, a lot of the times, you know, we talk about almost every episode. We talk about making a meta read before going into a tournament, uh, trying to hard call a certain match ups or certain Pokemon that you're going to see. And I feel like a lot of, of ton tons, um,
00:25:50
William Dunphey
career so far has been about kind of trying to get one step ahead of the meta. And sometimes it works out tremendously, right? Like making it to the grand finals last year with, like you said, seeking artifacts, Clefable. Um, ah but sometimes it really fizzles out. There was a, there was a low point, I believe last season where, uh, Tonton had a ah really tough tournament tournament performance. And I looked at his team and I said, Tonton you're, you're four times weak to a zoom role. Like this is a really tough time to not be strong against a zoom role.
00:26:20
William Dunphey
And, um, you know, sometimes things change, but sometimes they stay the same. And speaking of things that stay the same, we've got a ton of zoom rolls still in the meta and Tonton has actually adjusted quite a bit. And you were talking about your own zoom rolls match up. He's got charge bug and superior to absolutely, you know, the just downright awesome counters for that Pokemon. And I think that what Tonton did was he stayed true to his own kind of like spiciness, the things that he wanted to do. ah His team adjusted a lot from Leo, but at the same time, he was very realistic in his approach. And I feel like he he kind of walked that thin line
00:26:54
William Dunphey
between surprising your opponents and having off meta picks, but also being able to handle even the the kind of surprises that you might see. If you remember, Tonton Batous competed in Leel, where he finished seventh overall this season. He had Greninja, Claude Sire, Chargibug, as well as Skarmory, Pangoro, and Cresselia. So he made a lot of changes to his team here in Gdansk, but he did hold on to the Chargibug.
00:27:18
William Dunphey
um I feel like when I, when I look at the, at the matchup that you had here, like you said, the talent flame, you mentioned a few times, uh, the charger bug as well. We've already talked about, uh, your shadow driflin and your gastron, I was playing a lot of GBL and ah the gastron matchup into flyers, particularly talent flame is definitely deflating when you get those Pokemon aligned.
00:27:41
William Dunphey
Uh, it was so deflating for me that I actually switched to a water pulse earth power gastron for a while to try and
00:27:47
Zzweilous
Oh, the double nuke.
00:27:49
William Dunphey
The double nukes, try to surprise.
00:27:49
Zzweilous
Hey, I like it. I respect it.
00:27:52
William Dunphey
Try to surprise a few people. Yeah, I did get one or two talent flames. It was definitely rewarding ah when that happened. Sometimes the water pulse lands and they just quit the game because they know like, Oh, I took way too much damage. Um, but, but I think something that we need to talk about as well is, is kind of like the stress testing and flexibility of teams, because you can, you can find match ups and you can survive certain tough match ups. You can find when conditions, even when it doesn't feel like you have a direct counter to something, but sometimes the stress is just too great.
00:28:22
William Dunphey
And it feels like, for example, your Gastrodon against this team, there's just so much stress on it to find the right target. Shadow Driflem as well needed the right target to have any kind of success. ah Pangoro, like you said, you brought it three out of four games in the grand finals. I do think that was one of your more flexible picks. ah Magnezone also was really going to struggle against Pokemon like Superior or the Talonflame or the Claude Sire.
00:28:48
William Dunphey
And I feel like, um, yeah, you just kind of ran to the end of the line in terms of what you're able to do. And, and to be honest, if you or Tonton, right?
00:28:58
William Dunphey
The two of you, if either of you were in the grand finals and you faced anyone else from this tournament, I think I would have given you probably a 70, 30 chance to win. But because the two matched up, the two most unique players in this tournament, in my opinion, matched up, it was kind of like a collision course, right?
00:29:11
Zzweilous
you know
00:29:15
William Dunphey
And only one of you could come out the other side.
00:29:17
Zzweilous
so So I have played two tournaments this season and the only player I have like a negative win rate against is Tonton because he knocked me down in Dortmund and that I got knocked out by Nickname, who I beat in day one, so we're technically tied within the Dropmon tournament.
00:29:40
Zzweilous
um And then he just was the person who beat me twice in Gdansk. So the only player i'm I'm currently negative against in this season is Anton. But I still want to play against him again just because his teams are always so fun. i just want to I just want to overcome that challenge again, especially because I want to see what happens when we really are like evenly matched in terms of how our teams play into each other.
00:30:10
Zzweilous
And yeah, I hope I can meet him again maybe in another Grand Final down the line.
00:30:15
William Dunphey
Yeah?
00:30:15
Zzweilous
um Because yeah, like I really enjoy it when people um are brave enough to try out Corebreakers. I just don't enjoy it particularly when they Corebreak me specifically.
00:30:27
Zzweilous
But um still, like i like there were no shared had Pokemon between the two teams in the Grand Finals.
00:30:28
William Dunphey
yeah
00:30:34
Zzweilous
And I always love Grand Finals like that, where it's
00:30:34
William Dunphey
yes
00:30:37
Zzweilous
just like to two different sets of ideas competing and I think both were really good ideas but the one idea was a little better than the other like when Tonton was up against Welton in in his winner's semis it was tied 1-1 going into game three and I was like Welton please lead Malamar I feel like Malamar might be a really good lead and I think the Malama did come out but it was in in the back and not in the lead and it didn't get the alignment and I had to face Tonton's team and I don't know whether I would have beaten Tonton because Tonton is a really good player but um I'm just saying if there is no Magnezone answer on your team I will have a better shot than against Tonton with his counting four Magnezone answers
00:31:20
William Dunphey
Yeah, it was definitely very, very, very inhospitable in terms of, uh, of magnetism gameplay. And I know we won't, um, sorry, I know we aren't going to do a play by play of the grand finals. I just want to list off the leads here, just so everyone can get ah a feeling of how difficult a matchup this was for his wireless. So not only did Thompson have the right Pokemon, he put them in the right position.
00:31:43
William Dunphey
Game one, Tantan leads Talonflame into Pangoro, which as we just talked about, certain IV spreads can make that very competitive or even flip it, but it's definitely very tough. Game two, Tantan leads Talonflame into Gastrodon without water pulse, I might add.
00:31:58
William Dunphey
ah Game 3, Tan Tan says, how about Claude Sire into your Pangoro, which is definitely a tough matchup. And then game 4, like we talked about, I actually have it in my notes here. I said, Zweilis runs ABA water into superior lead. Yikes in all caps. He leads Tan Tan lead superior into Gastrodon, and there's an Azumarill in the back. so yeah again Not only did Tan Tan have all the right components, all the right ah tools in his toolkit, but he deployed them correctly. And again, ah he deserves a ton of praise. Tan Tan incredibly talented. I think we were very blessed to have him in the competitive circuit and he's definitely one of the best in the EU. but
00:32:37
William Dunphey
That was definitely a ah fun grand finals. And I'm happy that you were also content, uh, to have the runner up position. I really feel like, uh, your body language, your demeanor, the, uh, pre grand finals interview, all of it, you kind of had let off the gas by the time you got to the grand finals. And you just looked at the sheet, you looked at the numbers and you said, yeah.
00:33:00
William Dunphey
Against a player like Tonton, I have very, very little chance to do anything here. I'm just going to be content with my silver medal and I'm going to ah to congratulate Tonton because he deserves it.
00:33:11
Zzweilous
That was essentially it. Like I knew with that either I win the tournament or Alolan Reticate wins the tournament. And I'm such a big Alolan Reticate fan because like I was running that on my legend run earlier this season and I did replace it for the final push, but it was such a fun Pokemon. I ran the shadow variant and I was like always a big Alolan Reticate believer. And to see someone just go out there and actually make it work on on this side of a level, it was just like,
00:33:41
Zzweilous
It's just like really inspiring to see people trying that kind of spice and I've seen like somebody like I rewatch twitch chat a little and somebody said um when I when I basically sat down for the um grand finals interview and Basically talked about how I don't really see the chance against Anton steam somebody just said oh give this man some confidence and And when I watched that back, I was like, have you seen the Scarfo battles?
00:34:07
William Dunphey
Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
00:34:13
Zzweilous
I am exploding in terms of confidence right now. And I just also just I can read a team sheet, guys, like I can read a team sheet.
00:34:22
William Dunphey
Yeah.
00:34:24
Zzweilous
and Yeah, i'm I'm feeling I'm feeling really good about my place this season. like um And Like I was not in a bad space in terms of my competitive endeavors a year ago, because like i just I just won Barcelona, but then I went into Toronto and I didn't do as well. And I was like, okay, what I need to do now is be consistent. And 2024 was supposed to be my year of consistency. And now I look back and the last six tournaments, I won my group every single time.
00:35:00
Zzweilous
And I basically achieved exactly what I aspire to and that just makes you be at peace with whatever happens. and I would even like, even if I like, I'll be at Stuttgart.
00:35:13
Zzweilous
And if I don't make day two at Stuttgart, that's going to be fine.
00:35:16
William Dunphey
Mhm.
00:35:17
Zzweilous
I know that eventually um I will have a bad day, but I had so many good days that I can just enjoy what I have and enjoy what I had.
00:35:26
William Dunphey
Mhm.
00:35:26
Zzweilous
So really, really just fixed my attitude for this season because I was like prone to being a little more, more nervous. And I'm, I still am going into most day twos.
00:35:39
Zzweilous
Um, but yeah, I feel like I've come a long way and I'm really proud of, of what I achieved in Gdansk and Dortmund and the tournaments before. And can't wait to battle again. Honestly, I just just want to figure out some new matters, some, some annihilate matters. And yeah, it's going to be Stuttgart, Toronto, Birmingham, EUIC probably.
00:36:01
William Dunphey
Okay. Okay. So if you are attending any of any of those competitions, make sure to look out for these wireless and let them know that you listen to the show. Um, I know you talked a lot about the grand finals, the overall competition. Uh, this episode feels like it's going to be a rather quick one. Uh, I just wanted to ask you if you have any other performances you wanted to recognize at Gdańsk, any other trainers you wanted to shout out to or anything you noticed, uh, on the ground competing in Poland.
00:36:29
Zzweilous
um So first of all, I want to give a big shout out to essentially the entire PvP community that was there and that I did interact with because um even though it was a smaller regional, the Sunday Night Social was a blast. The time at the venue was amazing.
00:36:49
Zzweilous
um I enjoyed all my battles, all my opponents were so nice, it's like it was just like a really really good time, it was a great weekend and I want to encourage anyone who lives in Europe to check out Gdansk next year should we have it on the circuit again because it's just a great city, it's like very pretty, it's like um by the Baltic Sea, it's like really really lovely architecture it's like those lovely these streets we were like staying at um one of the oldest streets of the city where they have these little amber shops and the pierogi restaurants and it's it was just like one of my favorite regional experience to date and big shout out to everybody who was there and uh made it the experience that it was
00:37:37
Zzweilous
And in terms of competitive prowess, I think we've shouted out the the main people that we had to shout out, which is um the top three.
00:37:46
William Dunphey
Hmm.
00:37:48
Zzweilous
then ah fourth medalist in Odin, who um ran Dragapult to his strongest finish yet, Pato, with his spicy Golisopod. Golisopod, as I've come to learn.
00:38:01
William Dunphey
Oh.
00:38:01
Zzweilous
um and This is actually like, it's it's dropia Dropion and Golisopod. on ah Speaking about Dropion, the trainer that had Dropion on their team and that I also got to battle in Gdansk is Nezapethan. And I think that might be a nice segue into the Buenos Aires special event.
00:38:23
William Dunphey
Now I couldn't agree more. So Nesibethan finished seventh overall in Gdansk and I just checked my notes. He brought the exact same team to LATAM and flew down to Buenos Aires to compete. It was a one-day event, if i'm not mistaken, and um he was able to actually beat all the trainers there. Ended up winning the entire tournament.
00:38:46
William Dunphey
The team was Azumarill, Shadow Quagsire, Ariados, Dunsparce, Malamar, and Shadow Drapian. I have to ask his wireless, I saw this a lot on his um his victory post. What is Quayside? Do you know what Quayside is about?
00:39:02
Zzweilous
It feels as if it's something British like Like Quay might be a river and Quayside might just be, I don't know, is this a place? Or is it just like, Nezabethans autocorrect making Quagsire a British Pokemon? It's one of the two, probably. I don't know, I don't have any insight. If any TnPizza members know more about Quayside, please commented comment it below the Twitter post because we do need to know.
00:39:34
William Dunphey
I'm just imagining um all of the tea and pizza ah trainers listening to this. They're like, Oh, they think it's a river. Oh, they think it's a place. Oh, they have no idea. No, no. I'm interested as well because I saw all those comments and it may or may not also make an appearance on our thumbnail for this episode. So, um, well, we'll see. We'll see what quaysight is about. Let us know for sure. Like, like Swiley said, drop a comment down below.
00:39:58
William Dunphey
um But Esebethin, I just want to ah give him a little spotlight here before we look at the overall meta and how things changed in Buenos Aires because Esebethin was the 2023 EUIC runner-up, falling to, believe it or not, Tontan Batus in the finals. Esebethin has always been a very strong trainer. He was he was strong back in the Silph days. right I remember that name.
00:40:20
William Dunphey
uh from from the grassroots circuit and to see him come to bueno series and win was definitely very impressive just to give you an idea just to give you a gauge of the players that also attended we had vic rioja marto gauday hector quello lndst steiner jw naldo havier v20 from peru we had memi We had nighttime clasher hard. Jeff was there lean burnal as well as lnds khanan and lnds arao So you had some really really good players. There were two international champions here multiple regional champions were here This was ah a stacked tournament and to get to squeeze it in to just one single day of competition and to win it all on I don't want to say enemy soil right but like
00:41:08
William Dunphey
foreign soil, you know, a region that you are not um going to get the support of the crowd from, right? This reminds me of Doonbug at EUIC, when I heard there were like three people chaantning chanting USA, and everyone else was kind of looking at them like, get out of here, you know, what are you talking about?
00:41:23
William Dunphey
Nezamethan came down.
00:41:23
Zzweilous
You might still look like a happy happy eagle on stage.
00:41:27
Zzweilous
i he was He was loving the moment.
00:41:27
William Dunphey
Yeah.
00:41:29
William Dunphey
Yeah, yeah that was um that was a very majestic flapping maneuver, I must say, I must say. But a yeah, let's talk about Nezibethan and his run. Again, we don't have the VOD, so we can't really ah talk about the battles that much. But I did notice a few meta trends. You talked about Azumarole and Ariados.
00:41:49
William Dunphey
Um, I've got some numbers here for you as well. The two top use Pokemon in this top 16, right? And granted the tournament is only going to stand as either our top four or top eight, just because it was a one day competition. But if you look, if you zoom out and look at the top 16, uh, we had 12 zoom roll and 12 done sparse. When you narrow it down into the top eight, we had seven zoom roll and six done spars. So it looks like, you know, almost, almost all of the top eight, 90% of the, of the, excuse me, 50% of the top eight.
00:42:20
William Dunphey
What am I trying to say? Almost all the top eight in a zoom roll, and about half of the of the entire top finishers had done spars. What do you think of this? Because when we've seen these previous tournaments, for example, in Lima, we saw a lot of, of done excuse me, of Diggersby and Toxapex, or we saw a lot of, you know, Chestnut or Malamar. Why are we suddenly seeing so much done spars in Latin?
00:42:46
Zzweilous
I am honestly a little bit surprised about that as well. um I guess it is... a fairly neutral Pokémon that is also a solid answer to Pokémon such as Ariados, which are now super common. So like the Azumarill and Ariados usage kind of mirrored what we saw in Gdansk earlier, but the Dance Pass uptake I didn't quite foresee. um I think it is a strong Pokémon, especially into the teams that were that were utilized by the players um at the event.
00:43:20
Zzweilous
Because um mostly, next to the Ariados and Azumarill, Ariados being a good matchup for downspots, even though some Ariados are able to make that close. um We also saw Jugon a lot, or Ice-types in general, where it's still around. We saw Drapeon, which um always is a good target for a drill-run user. um We saw four Galarian Moltres in the top eight.
00:43:48
Zzweilous
so um There were certainly um a bunch of targets for Dunspars, as well as this being the final tournament before the Annihilate release.
00:43:59
William Dunphey
Hmm.
00:43:59
Zzweilous
So maybe it is like, a okay, I will use my normal types um as long as I can kind of scenario.
00:44:00
William Dunphey
Hmm.
00:44:06
Zzweilous
So I don't know whether that played into it at all or whether that people were just opting for a really reliable and solid Pokémon. I guess it is probably the latter.
00:44:17
Zzweilous
um And one thing that I do find notable is that because of the zoom roll uptake, people recently ah have been opting to use miltank instead of dunspars.
00:44:29
Zzweilous
Those two Pokémon play fairly similarly um with both of them having rock tap coverage and roll out.
00:44:32
William Dunphey
Yeah.
00:44:36
Zzweilous
Dunspars doubling down with its um rock side charge attack. um But the coverage that Miltank offers is slightly different in that it gets the neutral stab body slam, which is a nerf move, but still a fine consistent damage output. and And then the thunderbolt for coverage, which hits really hard into the azumarils, into the um dugongs that we see.
00:45:00
Zzweilous
um and and can fight back against toxapex and also essentially one shots of her alligator. So um a lot of a lot of um utility for that Miltank and we did actually see and Javier V20 piloting it to ninth place overall.
00:45:18
William Dunphey
Hmm.
00:45:18
Zzweilous
So those Rollout users are certainly prominent to deal with the bug types and to then provide coverage against whatever people see in the meta.
00:45:30
Zzweilous
And one thing that I also would imagine is that if people have taken anything from Gdansk, it is that Talonflame is still good enough to win tournaments.
00:45:41
Zzweilous
And what better Pokemon to use against that than a Rollout user?
00:45:41
William Dunphey
Yeah. No, I absolutely agree. I think in GBL, I started to see a massive uptick in Talon leads or Talon closers. And I found myself time and time again, wishing that I had a Dunsparce or even the Miltank, like you said, ah with the threat of the Thunderbolt and the rollout pressure. I feel like that kind of of coverage is really important. And I would not be shocked at all to see Talonflame make a big showing in LAIC.
00:46:13
William Dunphey
because you kind of need to resist the damage from Annihilape and Primeape in some way. I know that Talonflame is only a Flying-type, it doesn't resist the Rage Fist, but it will give you a lot of flexibility and utility, and it does command shields, which is more than you can save for a lot of other Flying-type Pokémon. I don't think that, for example, Mandibuzz, you need to shield everything from Mandibuzz, even if you are an Annihilape. Maybe you can get away with one no-shield in that matchup, depending on the situation.
00:46:39
William Dunphey
but a talent flame command shields and once you get up energy it can be a really really devastating pokemon i agree with your your sentiment about normal types this feels like the last weekend at least for a little while where we will see normal types um freely brought on most teams you know whether it's a safe swap or a lead because i do think that annihilate and primate are going to rise up in terms of usage and it's just such a devastating matchup. You can't afford to lead something like that or to safe switch the Dunsparce and then just get absolutely pummeled in submission by one of one of the fighting types. um I also appreciate that you shouted out to Javier for the mill tank in ninth place. um In terms of usage, I do have an interesting factoid for you here. So
00:47:23
William Dunphey
Earlier on in the season we talked about Galarian Moltres and Shadow Kanto Marowak. So there were four Galarian Moltres in the top 16 and there were excuse yeah top sixteen and then there were three Shadow Kanto Marowak in the top 16.
00:47:39
William Dunphey
Now, the interesting thing about that is none of those were in the bottom eight. So only in the top eight could you find Galarian Moltres in Shadow Canto Marowak. In places nine through 16, there were neither. So I feel like this This may or may not kind of reignite again the accessibility issue that you've talked about. These trainers that had these two very exclusive Pokemon are just doing a lot better than the other trainers that didn't. But when you compare that to Gdansk, it really feels like maybe it's a non-issue. Do you have like a strong feeling either way on that?
00:48:17
Zzweilous
So I think that the Kansu Marowak is probably a Pokemon that is best at filling a certain role. Because while we only saw three shadow Kanto Marrowak in Top Kirk, we also saw seven ground types in top eight. The others are like, at least at least seven teams with ground types. I haven't checked with a, yeah, I think there is like a double ground type scenario on LNDS Oreo's team. But um we had two shadow Quirk Sire, we had two Claude Sire,
00:48:58
Zzweilous
in a double ground strategy and one is like the standout ground type and we also had a gastrodon.
00:49:03
William Dunphey
Hmm. Mm hmm.
00:49:04
Zzweilous
So I think the the ground type is um something that people just want to have on their team and if they have access to the neutrally strongest ground type, they will probably opt to go for that.
00:49:19
Zzweilous
However, um as somebody who had to make a choice between ground types in Gdansk and also had a Galarian Moltres available to him before building the Gdansk team.
00:49:35
Zzweilous
um I don't think that it's like entirely black and white, because for the team that I wanted to build, um I felt like, okay, Galarian Moltres would be too much of a liability in in certain matchups, so I opted for another flying type and in Shadow Drift them.
00:49:42
William Dunphey
Mhm. Mhm.
00:49:57
Zzweilous
um It was just like, okay, this is a really strong Pokemon, but it doesn't suit my other five. And for my ground type, I thought, okay, I need a basically a Pokemon that can take water type damage against Azu against Shadow for Alligator. I don't want to be forced to just two shield through it. I want to be able to take a move.
00:50:16
Zzweilous
So that's why Gastrodon was not only on my team because I don't have a Shadow Kingdom error again, but also because I just thought it is the Pokemon that was most suited to the role that I needed to to fill. So while these Pokemon are very strong,
00:50:32
Zzweilous
They aren't always optimal.
00:50:35
William Dunphey
Mm hmm.
00:50:35
Zzweilous
They can be optimal and it's perfectly reasonable to build around them because they are so strong. um But I don't think people will lose a tournament because they don't have access to those Pokemon.
00:50:48
William Dunphey
Hmm.
00:50:50
Zzweilous
People could win a tournament because they have access to those Pokemon and then they play them really well. um So I will definitely continue to advocate for um
00:51:02
Zzweilous
alternative ways to obtain meta-relevant legendaries, and also an increased awareness towards putting Shadow Pokemon into rotation as soon as they become relevant to the meta. I don't think Niantic did a particularly good job ah when they basically blanked on the Shadow Kento-Meraag situation ahead of the last Team Go Rocket event, but I also think that Um, like the Pokemon that won the tournament was the Shadow Quagsire. The Pokemon that won the tournament was not the Galarian Mortress, like the dark type on the team was the Shadow Dropion, which again, like also a slight accessibility issue there, but at least it has been around and obtainable for regular people that don't do hours of daily adventure and since every day.
00:51:53
William Dunphey
Mm hmm.
00:51:53
Zzweilous
um So yeah, I don't think these Pokemon are a pre prerequisite to success, but they are obviously strong and also really fun to play, if I may add.
00:52:04
William Dunphey
Mm hmm. I honestly couldn't have said it better. I do feel like there's always ah areas for improvement. You know, Niantic adding these shadow Pokemon back into the rotation. I honestly don't understand why Shadow Cubone was ever taken out. I mean, I don't know anyone that's like clambering to get Shadow Alolan Diglett or anyone that's, you know, losing their mind over getting another Shadow Dwebble. I'm not sure what what that's about.
00:52:29
William Dunphey
But ah hopefully they do make that right. I really appreciate the one point you made, though. You don't need these Pokemon to win a tournament. And I think that is a real ah defining ah point because a lot of players will look at it and say, well, I don't have it, so I shouldn't even try. I don't have the shadow Kanto Marowak and I won't beat anyone who does. So why would I even try? But that's actually not the case, which is a really, really nice kind of kind of breath of fresh air, especially going to L.A. I see.
00:52:55
William Dunphey
um I see on our on our list here we have a little segment about Annihilape and I know that Inadequance has also done a write-up for LAIC. He's got a lot of information about the shielding scenarios ah for for each Pokémon, their Shadow variants and otherwise. I know a lot of trainers and competitors in particular are going to learn these shielding scenarios um I'm curious if if if you have any thoughts on the shielding scenarios and which Pokemon is the best because at this point I'm just going by feel I'm just saying that a regular annihilate feels better
00:53:29
Zzweilous
Yeah. yeah i was I was about to hit you with that exact point that, well, this information exists, and it is out there. And I encourage every competitor to read up on it. um At the end of the day, my opinion on the Primeape Annihilape conversation, it's it's mostly just wipe space. Let's be real here. um I don't think it is as brainy of a Pokemon as um It used to be in the past in in one way, because back in the day, you were really just trying to like put the put your annihilate on the scale and just like measure it, whether it has the attack break points that it needs, the defense bulk points that it needs, and then also win CMP over
00:54:00
William Dunphey
Yeah.
00:54:19
Zzweilous
opposing annihilate. I don't think that will be as big of a deal because two things. First of all, the main target for those specific IV spreads was Likitang. Likitang, not part of the meta anymore.
00:54:34
Zzweilous
And also secondly, if you are shooting for precise breakpoints, then those matter a lot if you have no way of modifying your attack stat, because you will so be stuck with your specific attack for the entirety of the battle.
00:54:35
William Dunphey
Yep.
00:54:47
William Dunphey
Hmm.
00:54:50
Zzweilous
if you have a move like ragefist your attack changes constantly and having this one like baseline of of attack it won't do as much for you and won't be as crucial for you ah as it would have been ah otherwise i do still believe that um
00:54:54
William Dunphey
and
00:55:07
Zzweilous
if you expect to see more annihilate, that running a little bit of attack rate for CMP reasons might be worth it. um But overall I don't think you need to stress as much as you did in the past, and a high rank is essentially fine. And also I don't think that the shadow is strictly better i think the shadow is a side grade um you you will be okay even if you have not been able to locate a pvp av shadow magi within a 4d time frame it was it really was
00:55:30
William Dunphey
Oh. ah Yeah, that OK, let's just let's just zero in on that for a second. That event was garbage because I I play this game so much. Right. This this game is open on my phone probably at least four to five hours a day. I play I play way too much, to be honest. Even myself, a really hardcore dedicated player who's in the community, who makes content, who is going to these tournaments. It's basically my job, right? Even a player like myself.
00:56:09
William Dunphey
When that Team Rocket event ended, I didn't even realize. I didn't even realize when it started. I didn't realize when it ended. And I am plugged in, man. I am i am on top of this stuff. And I didn't know.
00:56:18
Zzweilous
yeah
00:56:19
William Dunphey
And I i think it's really funny. I think there's a comment from from Softof on Twitter. um Somebody said, oh, I wish I had a good shadow annihilate, but I wish I could TM it. And she said, no, you needed to play during this highly exclusive event that wasn't advertised during this one specific time, and otherwise you don't have it.
00:56:36
William Dunphey
And I'm like, Yeah, that's pretty much how it feels. Um, I appreciate that you said that as well. You made some really like fascinating points. The rage fist update is so tremendous because it really does modify your attack stat and you don't have the same targets that used to have. So the whole discussion.
00:56:53
William Dunphey
about which ape is the best, it really has evolved and changed. It's really just an entirely different beast. I also agree with your point about having at least a little bit of attack to win the mirror matchups, but there are some some IV combinations that might be better than others. In the GBLA Play Pokemon IV spreads chat, Math Magic did some research. He provided some IV combinations and Pocket immediately responded and said, bro, that was eight for last season. But thanks, Math. I'll make sure to get one of these.
00:57:23
William Dunphey
And he just it Totally shut him down. But I think there's a lot of merit here to the to the IV spreads that he did advertise There's about I think eight of them or so and I did look for them.
00:57:33
William Dunphey
I didn't get any of them So I'm just gonna go with what I've got Yeah but but Yeah
00:57:36
Zzweilous
People are so used to annihilate IVs being crucial as well. So I don't blame anyone who really goes out of their way to to find the 13-8-0 annihilate that gets all the break and both points. um But yeah, I think it's a lot more flexible and it's more about how you play it rather than what you have. And I think that's a good thing overall.
00:58:00
Zzweilous
um Speedy, may I ask you, what is your favorite ape? Is it Annihilape? Is it Primeape? Is it Oranguru again? I think Oranguru actually, I think that confusion users are actually good. And maybe somebody will top that with one, but I digress.
00:58:15
William Dunphey
There's so much poison in the meta and there's now going to be even more fighting type Pokemon. I think for the, the Claude Sires, the Toxapex is, um, and then you flip over to, to fighting, you see, uh, whether it's prime ape, annihilate.
00:58:31
William Dunphey
Even the occasional Machamp, right, which you might see here and there, I do think there's a lot of merit to confusion. And I do think that fast attack pressure is also in an interesting spot because Poison Sting got a buff, fery one Fairy Wind got a buff. You have a lot of their traditional traditional players. Karate Chop doesn't do that much damage. I feel like there's room for a four turn high damage fast attack. And I have been experimenting with that.
00:58:56
William Dunphey
in GBL until the cups rotated over to willpower. And I don't see myself playing a Rangaroo in willpower, but we we will see. Um, but yeah, to answer your question, I do like a Rangaroo a lot.
00:59:08
William Dunphey
I'm always pushing against the the trends though, man. Like back when I was in school, everybody, and when I was young, everyone was like, Oh, Harry Potter's the best. And I said, yeah, okay. I didn't read the books until like years later, everyone said, Oh, um, you know, Twilight is the new rage.
00:59:22
Zzweilous
ah
00:59:23
William Dunphey
And I never watched the movies until like,
00:59:23
Zzweilous
a
00:59:24
William Dunphey
Years later, I saw the first movie and I was like, yeah, this is kind of mid. um I'm always against the trends. So umm I'm going to go anti trend here and go with the Rangaroo.
00:59:35
Zzweilous
Okay, enough of our primate versus annihilate and discussion has essentially devolved into oranguru propaganda.
00:59:42
William Dunphey
he yeah
00:59:43
Zzweilous
um But I'm honestly all for it. I think oranguru has played. I think if you're really crazy, you could also be a little more Dijan, a little more um oppressive and give Shadow Jirephoric a try because the psychic fangs you can just ramp up and if you have like a team of pokemon that shut down the most common dark types like if you have answers to drop you on if you have answers to galarian mulch is what are they going to do to stop you like i don't i don't think there's much that can be done
01:00:16
Zzweilous
um And also, one Pokémon that is like one of the OGs of PvP, I think Hypno is still good. I think Hypno, with the right coverage move, you can customize it with like Thunder Punch for the Azumarill, you can just have Shadow Ball as a neutral option.
01:00:34
Zzweilous
You could even go for like stab size shock or if you need to fill it ah if you needed to fill a specific niche, you could also go like for fire punch if you have an Alolan sand slash weakness or ah something like that. So I think confusion you will have to build around your confusion user if you run confusion, but it can work. I think it can work.
01:00:56
Zzweilous
um But again, like circling that back to the point briefly, I think Annihilape is better than Primape simply because it is more consistent, and it also wins the head-to-head, and it has higher stats, and it has the better typing.
01:01:08
William Dunphey
Hmm. Hmm.
01:01:14
Zzweilous
I think Primape is good. I think Primape is runnable in show 6, and it has an incredible high ceiling if you manage to get an energy advantage or if you get your baits right.
01:01:24
William Dunphey
Mm hmm.
01:01:24
Zzweilous
um So I think both are actually viable and I would not be surprised if we saw both in top card at LAIC.
01:01:30
William Dunphey
Hmm.
01:01:32
Zzweilous
I don't think either will be meta defining, but both will be like solid to good choices in the meta. But yeah, this is this is where I stand. I think regular annihilate is probably the best because most consistent option out of all of them.
01:01:51
Zzweilous
um And I think it might and might force people into at least planning for it. I think planning for it is um as easy said as done in a meta that already was Ariados Azumarill.
01:02:07
Zzweilous
um but people might, I don't know, maybe they'll drop the dance bars and go for a licky licky to have the shadowball coverage. um Maybe they will try the psychic types that not only target the fighters but also the poisons that are everywhere. um Maybe we'll even see um unique fairy-types rise up.
01:02:26
Zzweilous
I saw that Martogade actually brought a toga-take to Buenos Aires, so that was interesting.
01:02:31
William Dunphey
Yeah.
01:02:33
Zzweilous
I don't know whether that will catch on, but I think people will come prepared. um And honestly, my prediction is that um Ape will not make top four here, but it might make top four in Stuttgart, where we still will have the same meta ahead of the December um move update.
01:02:54
Zzweilous
but people will have a little bit more experience with their new annihilates.
01:02:59
William Dunphey
Mm. Interesting. Interesting. Uh, to cap off our, our orangaroo ape debate, uh, you could just galaxy brain everyone and be like dragon silk and run a literal team of orangaroo lead with primate safe swap and annihilate in the back and just go totally bananas.
01:03:15
Zzweilous
ah
01:03:17
William Dunphey
Right. That's one option.
01:03:18
Zzweilous
Reject team composition, return to monkey.
01:03:20
William Dunphey
Yeah, return to Monk. Monk decides all. um you You did a really good job as well of ah kind of helping us to segue into LAIC. I talked with a couple of trainers who competed in Buenos Aires. There were some GB Lindos there and some other trainers from LATAM. And um I just have to say, they were not thrilled that someone from a different region came into LATAM and won the tournament, all right? no no No bad things were said, but I could tell.
01:03:50
William Dunphey
They did not like that one bit and they're going to have a chance to defend their home turf in Sao Paulo, Brazil this upcoming weekend. I know we don't have a full picture of the players that are going, but I did do an LAIC pre-show and I highlighted Elam from NA. I highlighted Palasha from EU.
01:04:12
William Dunphey
For LATAM, I talked about Elce, Javier V20, and Ellen DSR Jeff, of course. And then for Oceania, I talked about Rick Flareon. So I think all these trainers have a lot to prove. I think they have ah the capability to win it all. I wouldn't be shocked at all if any of those of those six trainers were to win the entire tournament.
01:04:34
William Dunphey
But there are so many players going. I can give you kind of a ah bird's eye view here. ah Estimated figures right now, about 25 from NA, 11 from EU, LATAM has over 200, and as many as 10 from Oceania are making the trip.
01:04:49
Zzweilous
let's go it is a true international championship and i love that because i know that like in the very early days of um go being a part of the competitive circuit um the advantage was even more pronounced but i think we'll we'll see a real fight and honestly i am rooting for i am rooting for latin um i
01:04:52
William Dunphey
So by raw statistics, I'd say LATAM has the advantage here.
01:05:00
William Dunphey
Mm-hmm.
01:05:18
Zzweilous
Like, typically I would side with Europe, and I still do kind of, but I feel like now that Nazarethan already has taken away a title ah from the Laotam community, it's like ah a a stop, he's already dead kind of situation in a way.
01:05:35
Zzweilous
Um, this ah no, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Like an international championship is like, obviously a little bit bigger than, than a special event, even though like I'm not one to talk, like look down on special events, especially when this entire personality.
01:05:49
William Dunphey
Mm.
01:05:52
Zzweilous
Um. But yeah, i'm I'm really curious to see um especially like how people will be creative again, because that's that's been the theme of Gdansk in a way, where the players who and made the ball choices got rewarded, be it the Alolan Reticate, be it the Dragapult, be it the Goliath support. And my team was also kind of spicy. um So yeah, I want to see people just to to go out there and not play it safe. Because I think playing it safe doesn't really win the big titles. And I have i have made some notes on on some competitors. I know there's like a ton of big names competing. like
01:06:35
Zzweilous
um For Europe, there's Palasha, as you have mentioned. There's Colin Six, who I think might really be hungry for a big international performance, because I think his world's run was quite all right this time around.
01:06:47
William Dunphey
Agreed.
01:06:51
Zzweilous
But I think with the IC, he still needs to have that one standout performance. And maybe this is the time, because his early season was quite good. It was quite good.
01:07:03
Zzweilous
um And then there's also Sanghuriko, I think, um having like earned the Travel Award and Pablondinas. And I want to zone in on Pablondinas for a little while, um because he's actually the last person to win a winner's finals against me.
01:07:11
William Dunphey
Yes.
01:07:22
Zzweilous
I've been playing a lot of tournaments and that was in January, but yeah, he was on a wicked run in the second half of ah last season, but he hasn't actually competed at all this season yet.
01:07:34
Zzweilous
And I think he managed to utilize some picks really well that could be crucial in this new meta also. Because when I think of Pablo Andinos, I think of two signature picks. One is the Shadow Dragonite. I think that was a standout. And I think dragons are in an interesting place right now. Because obviously Azu is on a lot of teams.
01:08:02
Zzweilous
But if you dodge that one Pokemon, and it is quite easy to dodge if you just pack your um team with Pokemon that Azur doesn't want to see, then you just have a Pokemon that is so oppressive. And especially if you anticipate Annihilape maybe pushing the dance bosses out of the meta, then you will not have to worry about rollout damage as much. And maybe even have like, I don't know, like four out of six positive matchups on most teams.
01:08:30
Zzweilous
I think that would be interesting. I don't know whether the Shadow Dragonite will return, but it is a Pokémon that I would love to see. um Another trainer that is a known Shadow Dragonite enthusiast that I want to shout out is Emilio from Chile, who is um also competing as far as I as as far as i know.
01:08:43
William Dunphey
Hmm hmm.
01:08:49
Zzweilous
um So um that would be interesting to see. And another Pokemon that I think Pablondina specifically relied upon a lot was Chargerbug. And what that Chargerbug was a little bit of a revelation the last time LAIC came around. And it's also really strong in this meta. I struggled to answer it in the Gdaan's Grand Finals. um So I think trainers who pilot Shadow Dragonite and Chargerbug really well could really make a splash at LAIC this year.
01:09:20
William Dunphey
I agree that dragons are in and definitely in an interesting spot. I think Shadow Dragonite absolutely wreaks havoc if your opponent doesn't have a hard answer for it. And to take an even closer look at Poblandinas, I'm so glad you brought him up. He finished third in Liverpool last season in the Timeless Travels meta with Shadow Dragonite in Chargibug. He also finished second overall at Utrecht.
01:09:42
William Dunphey
where Inadequance was able to win with Giratina origin form. Again, he was playing Charjabug in the finals. And then his third top cut from last year was EUIC, seventh overall with Altaria and Charjabug yet again. So as you pointed out, he hasn't competed yet this season. I'm really interested to see what he decides to bring. I would be so stoked to see some dragon pressure because I do think that is sorely lacking ah from the current meta. And if you look at LAIC historically,
01:10:10
William Dunphey
I mean, recall back to the first LAIC where J.W. Naldo was the winner. He was running Toxapex. That was a Pokemon that had just come out. A lot of trainers were trying to figure out how to use it. A lot of players were still safe swapping that Pokemon. And mind you, this is back when Swampert was still meta and you had a lots of earthquakes getting fired off. ah But J.W. Naldo figured it out. He cracked the code and he put so much distance between himself and Gabriel Yehova in the finals that he was absolutely dominant.
01:10:37
William Dunphey
And then you fast forward one more year and you look at, uh, Ellen DS Harjef and he pioneered a double electric team. Uh, like you pointed out, a charge bug was kind of a revelation last season, but Harjef was one of the first trainers to make that Pokemon work to a high, high level. So I fully anticipate the, uh, Latam region to be very creative, very inventive, uh, to actually have a brand new take on what they need to do to win a tournament. And I just have to come back to an earlier point you made. So iless it's not going to be leaky, leaky.
01:11:07
William Dunphey
You have double resisted body slams into an Islaip. The rollout is is resisted as well. I mean, it's just abysmal. You can try to land the shadow ball, but it does take, you know, five rollouts to get there. And by that time you're, you're an Islaip is closing in the close combat. I just, I don't know. I don't think it's going to be like, you're like, Hey, I don't think it'll be mil tank. And I don't think it'll be done sparse.
01:11:29
Zzweilous
Well, I guess we can agree that it won't be Miltank this time around. Watch Miltank win it all.
01:11:33
William Dunphey
Yeah. Right.
01:11:33
Zzweilous
um But...
01:11:34
William Dunphey
Mark our words.
01:11:36
Zzweilous
ah like like i think I think there's some merit to Shadow Ball Licky Licky because you don't have to... You probably won't say swap it necessarily, but you could lead it and you save so something else if you catch the Annihilape and the lead, and then you just roll out something down, and come out with a lot of energy, and then you're really threatened.
01:11:54
Zzweilous
Then you're really threatened.
01:11:54
William Dunphey
o
01:11:55
Zzweilous
um So I think like there's some flexibility to it, less flexibility than to its younger brother Lickitung back in the day when that was a thing still, ah where you could just do consistent fast move damage and it didn't even matter whether you threw double resisted body slams or not because the licks were all you need. um But yeah, i don't I don't know, like normal types might not be the the story of LAIC this year.
01:12:22
Zzweilous
um to other trainers that I do want to highlight. They actually don't have all that much in common other than the fact that they did share a stage at our very last international championship.
01:12:36
Zzweilous
I think both Out of Pocket and Ash and Ash have actually a real chance at, I don't know, maybe repeating that feat and making a very deep run at this competition at well as well.
01:12:48
Zzweilous
And I want to give you my reasoning, Speedy.
01:12:50
William Dunphey
okay
01:12:50
Zzweilous
So for Pocket,
01:12:51
William Dunphey
here
01:12:52
Zzweilous
We know that whenever he um doesn't perform quite to his standards, um this this is just what gets him all fired up and hungry for computing again.
01:13:04
Zzweilous
and Pocket competed twice this season and he barely missed out on top 8 both times. So top 8 is where you basically place in the money for a regular regional and it's also where the championship points really like spike up and you get a lot more for your efforts than you would have gotten in 9th or 13th place.
01:13:15
William Dunphey
Okay, let's hear it.
01:13:31
Zzweilous
and i don't think pocket is quite happy with that i don't think he's quite happy with that and he definitely wants to i don't know i haven't talked to him but i just assume that he will do it again like the last time where he merely finished like in top cut and not like with a medal or something like that like he always holds himself to quite the highest standard and i can I can see another pocket redemption arc. um I know that the last time he took an international championship, that happened with a non-shadow for alligator. And I actually heard some talk about non-shadow for alligator in this particular meta, specifically by um our esteemed shoutcast, TomahawkUK, who does swear by the non-shadow gator, particularly the one with Crunch,
01:14:21
Zzweilous
um And what Tomahawk says about it is that running the non-shadow Gator allows you to free up space on your team for a Pokemon that really needs your shield still. Because otherwise you are basically stuck with bulky Pokemon and the Gator that eats all your shields. But if you have the flexibility of Gator's quick pacing and um like just really powerful hydro cannons, then you essentially still have like a Pokemon that can set up another pick in the back that you might want to invest your resources into a little more because it's, I don't know, more surprising, more interesting, or just more versatile than the Hydro Cannon machine that is Shadow for Alligator.
01:15:07
Zzweilous
Um, still, I think that's, I don't know whether that pick will come back. We always just like talk about signature picks of players who run that in the past. Doesn't mean that they have to run that again in the future, but I just, I just like to, to use, um, those previous successes as an excuse to talk about interesting strategies that might arise. Like that might be independent from the player that could have a shot at winning the tournament just by virtue of their skill um but yeah like why not run it back why not run it back like maybe maybe for some people it's um XXL steel types uh like ah shadow alone sand slash or a rectangular magnet zone for other people it might be a non-shadow for alligator i don't know i'm just i'm just saying words um
01:15:53
William Dunphey
Hmm. I just, yeah, I find it fascinating that I, I made the same claim like months ago. I said, I like regular for alligator, uh, as a swap and I like it as a, um, as a lead just because you don't need to feed it all your shields.
01:16:10
William Dunphey
And at that point, I think you said, Oh, interesting. And you probably made the goo goo, you know, sign finger twirling around your head. You're like, Oh, what the hell is he talking about?
01:16:18
Zzweilous
Yeah, yeah. Interesting is a word with many connotations, that's for sure.
01:16:23
William Dunphey
Yes, yes, very, very um contextual, I might say. um But I would love to see some signature picks and Pocket did win NAIC with his signature Quagsire, which he has been a fan of that Pokemon ever since the early self days. I mean, that is like,
01:16:38
William Dunphey
Pocket's favorite. He loves the derpy face. He's played it in countless tournaments. And speaking of countless tournaments, I want to shout out to some data provided by JJAN in the GBLA server. He actually broke down the number of top cuts versus tournaments attended and out of pocket.
01:16:55
William Dunphey
leads the entire globe in terms of the number of tournaments and top cuts he has achieved he's been to 22 championship series events and he has top cut 13 of them which makes him the most consistent top cutter based on number of tournaments attended at that scale and he is just absolutely tremendous really really talented player and i feel like pocket is really kind of coming into his own as a player as well
01:16:58
Zzweilous
Good time.
01:17:20
William Dunphey
um He doesn't seem to have the same kind of mental ups and downs that he had a season or two ago. He seems to be leveling out ah really well, and I'm excited to see what he does at LAIC.
01:17:34
Zzweilous
100% agreeing on that one. um and another like the The other trainer that I wanted to give a little bit of spotlight, even though like i like I guess like Pocket is a little bit more of a prominent figure in the community because it competes in tournaments that are streamed a lot and also has like this whole array of just incredible placements under his belt.
01:17:58
Zzweilous
um But Ash and Ash, he came so close in New Orleans and he was a little bit of the of the underdog, like a bit of a more scrappy player who didn't have all that manual many accolades to his name just in terms of play Pokemon.
01:18:00
William Dunphey
Mm. Yep. Mm hmm.
01:18:14
Zzweilous
But somebody who just went up against the best of the best, made it to the grand finals and I think like really won over the crowd as well in in some ways. um And So we don't see as much of Ashton Ash as we see of other competitors, but I know for a fact that he has put in the work, because I compete in a lot of practice tournaments, and I see who else competes in a lot of practice tournaments. And I know that Ashton Ash has been grinding, and not only has he been grinding, he has been winning. I will not be leaking the team that he used for most of these runs,
01:18:55
Zzweilous
Um, because that would frankly be unfair, but it is an interesting one. It is a unique one. I think it is a very powerful one. And I think it is like, I think Ash and Ash will be a player who is going to punish anyone who tries to place it safe again, to to play it safe against him. I think, um, there will be like some, not too outlandish, but still quite potent anti meta reads coming, coming our way.
01:19:23
Zzweilous
And whoever is trying to rely on those like, bread and butter neutral Pokemon, um I think they will not feel as neutral anymore. That is not saying that Ash and Ash is running an RPS team, he is not. But he has he has some interesting picks that I think will definitely um Like I don't know like hinder some strategies that that people rely on like or have been overly reliant on and in recent weeks rhymes you have a starting point and
01:19:46
William Dunphey
Surprise some people.
01:19:54
William Dunphey
I just remember um i remember how painful it was because ah Lundberg was trying to get me to do a rap about Ash and Ash in his shadow of lowland sand slash and I just could not... yeah It does, but we remember what happened last time when Amanda tried to rap.
01:20:14
William Dunphey
She got in trouble for that. So so I wasn't interested in a in in making TBCI unhappy.
01:20:16
Zzweilous
yes Yes, yes.
01:20:22
William Dunphey
So I was like, yeah, it it does rhyme, but that's about where we're going to stop with it.
01:20:24
Zzweilous
ah
01:20:27
William Dunphey
um to to remind him
01:20:29
Zzweilous
The real Slim Speedy not standing up, unfortunately.
01:20:31
William Dunphey
oh Oh God, I need to go on a diet if I'm going to be called that. Um, so, uh, to, to give everyone a refresher, Ashton Ash last year at NAIC, broad shadow, whisk, cash, annihilate charger, bug, maintain, as well as shadow, a lowland sand slash and Lickitung.
LAIC Meta Predictions and Discussion
01:20:49
William Dunphey
So I'm really interested to see what this unique, unique new team that he's going to bring to LAIC is going to look like.
01:20:56
William Dunphey
I'm just so excited. The stream is going to be awesome. ah the The internationals are always a huge event. um I was privileged enough to attend a couple of LAICs and I just wanted to to say the community is tremendous. I talked about this during the LAIC pre-show, but crowd noise is a real factor. I don't care how loud the white nose white noise is in your headphones as a competitor, you will hear the OLA's.
01:21:22
William Dunphey
you will hear the LNDS chants from the stands and it's definitely going to be a new mental game. A lot of trainers are going to have to deal with, especially NA trainers who are probably accustomed to not much more than golf claps at the tournaments or maybe even the EU trainers who have a dozen or a couple, couple dozen trainers from their country cheering for them. This is unlike either of those events. I think this is the most hype I see of the season.
01:21:48
William Dunphey
And it's going to be a thrill. So I'm, I'm really excited with the competition, but I wanted to ask you if there were any picks that stood out that you think could core break the entire meta at LAIC.
01:22:00
William Dunphey
I have one in mind. I gotta, I have to preface that by saying it's a pretty boring pick, but I do think it is going to be very useful.
01:22:06
Zzweilous
ahh So I have a pick in mind as well, and I will say it's quite the exciting pick, especially given your personal history with this game.
01:22:18
William Dunphey
No way.
01:22:19
Zzweilous
um So, a friend of mine, the boy who lived, um that's his in-game name, it's not just his real name, um he coined the term, it's Fortin Time, and that is when Fortress hits the field.
01:22:30
William Dunphey
It's not.
01:22:37
Zzweilous
And I do believe that it will be Fortin Time at LAIC, because Fortress looks like such a core breaker. It is essentially Magnezone without the ground-type weakness. It is essentially Magnezone without the fighting-type weakness. It is Magnezone, but without all the weaknesses. It has Rock Tomb, it has Earthquake, it has World Switch, it has a lot higher sta product than then like a much higher start product than Magnezone. So I think it's Fortnite time. it's It's time for Fortress to take an international title. What do you think, Speedy?
01:23:11
William Dunphey
I'm, I'm looking here at the Buenos Aires runner-up. I'm looking at L and D S R A O's team. I see a zoom roll. I see Ariados, dugong, Galarian Moltres, and Claude Sire. I think that a combination of volt switch, rock tomb, and earthquake.
01:23:28
William Dunphey
ah Punishes all five of those Pokemon and the one thing you really need to avoid is probably the shadow Kanto Marowak as his sixth But I think there might be some play here. I've seen a massive uptake ah uptick in um Fortress being played in GBL. I know it was very popular in Halloween cup. I believe I I face off against Tho He was streaming and I was using the two other bug steels I was playing shadow sizzor and wurmadam and he was so disappointed that I wasn't using the bug steel um
01:23:59
Zzweilous
Gradually so.
01:23:59
William Dunphey
i I'll tell you what's wireless. I want to believe. Call me Mulder from X-Files. I want to believe. But I just don't know if Fortress is gonna be the play.
01:24:10
William Dunphey
i I would love for it to be the play. I'd be so happy.
01:24:14
Zzweilous
If enough people believe it will be the play.
01:24:16
William Dunphey
It's exactly.
01:24:17
Zzweilous
If 100% of LAIC competitors register a fortress on their team, fortress is going to win LAIC. You heard it here first.
01:24:26
William Dunphey
A hundred percent pick rate. That might be the. Well, I guess Medicham has already got 100 percent in the past, but for the entire tournament, for the entire tournament, it could be the first.
01:24:33
Zzweilous
but
01:24:36
William Dunphey
Let's make history. L.A. I see. Let's do it. um I would be so happy. I'd be so so over the moon to see that. Will it come to fruition again? Only time will tell.
01:24:46
William Dunphey
But if you're listening to the show, make sure to register fortress just in case. My pick is not nearly as exciting, so I'm so glad that you went first. Uh, so my pick is, is the Pokemon that won the first ever international championship back in 2022 EUIC.
01:24:56
Zzweilous
Okay, what is it?
01:25:05
William Dunphey
And also the Pokemon that I think is going to be very popular in the willpower cup. It's flying.
01:25:11
Zzweilous
Is it, is it s slash menu buzz?
01:25:11
William Dunphey
It's, it's flying, it's dark, it's bulky and it's boring. It's air slash Manda buzz. That, the Pokemon that is either going to be two or put you to sleep, one or the other, and probably both, is going to be a top pick.
01:25:19
Zzweilous
ah
01:25:28
William Dunphey
I would say the champion of LAIC will have Mandibuzz on the squad. Because it's a Pokemon that that can dish it out. It can go back and forth with Aeridos.
01:25:39
William Dunphey
It can go back and forth with the Mud Slappers like Gastron and Shadow Kanto Marowak. It can handle Malamar relatively well. It can chip away at Shadow Drapian. Uh, an absolutely hard wall, something like a drift blend, right? Unless you're really, really high up energy. And I think that, um, you need the bulk, you need the reliability and you need, you need to be able to shut down the apes. There are a few things that hard wall, um, prime ape, annihilate, or even orangaroo more than a, uh, Amanda buzz.
01:26:09
Zzweilous
I love how you managed to to squeeze the orangaroo in there.
01:26:13
William Dunphey
Of course.
01:26:14
Zzweilous
ah
01:26:17
Zzweilous
But yeah, honestly, I don't even think... Like, it is an outlandish pick if you look at what chopped cut recently, because Manipus is spicier than Galerian Moltres at this point in time.
01:26:31
William Dunphey
Mm hmm.
01:26:32
Zzweilous
um But it does make perfect sense in a way, because we've seen Ariados everywhere. um The Air Slash specifically gives it some more play into Azumarill, even though that is still not great, but at least you are able to fight back now. um If people are bringing the ever-popular Guzzlord that, for example, LNDSRR Jeff um brought to Buenos Aires, I think the Air Slash variant will have more play into that too.
01:27:01
Zzweilous
of the roll-outers decrease in popularity, that will help Mandibuzz. And I would just imagine that the head-to-head matchup against Galerion Mortress will also be a a little bit better if you are not just merely doing resisted snarls, but neutral head slashes.
01:27:18
Zzweilous
So yeah, i can I can see some merit to it. um i I hope it doesn't win, because it's a lot more boring than Fortress, but I think ah think it is a solid shout.
01:27:25
William Dunphey
It's so much more boring.
01:27:29
William Dunphey
OK, OK, fair. Yeah, again, the the caveat that it's not a it's not going to break, you know, break anyone's expectations or melt their brain the same way that a shadow volt switch fortress would do.
01:27:41
William Dunphey
But I still think it.
01:27:42
Zzweilous
I think the neutral is actually the play because if you have a high rank neutral like regular fortress You can survive two earthquakes from a is true you take one damage per poison stain Yeah, yeah, we don't talk about that ever
01:27:44
William Dunphey
Oh.
01:27:52
William Dunphey
That is nasty work. And then the steel typing double resisting poison sting, right?
01:28:00
William Dunphey
Jeez, talk about a stressful situation. I mean, we're not going to talk about how your volt switch is also double resistant, but I, we don't, we we just, yeah, earthquakes back and forth until one of them falls down. That's pretty much the plan. Uh, but I think LAIC is going to be really interesting. Um, it looks like this year we won't have a strict LAIC pre-show, which is okay with me because I'm really excited to just kind of see how things unfold. Uh, but we did our best to kind of boil down what we expect. So, um,
01:28:30
William Dunphey
Unless you have any, any final thoughts here as wireless, I think we are approaching the end of the episode.
01:28:36
Zzweilous
think I think I have mentioned most of the things that I wanted to let our listeners know. like I have more thoughts on more competitors, but I think maybe I'll just save that for our big LAIC recap episode when we actually have some more stream battles to talk about.
01:28:50
William Dunphey
Hmm.
01:28:55
William Dunphey
Yeah, I think that sounds like the right strategy. It's been fun. It was great to recap Gdansk. Congratulations on your your silver medal, just adding a lot of hardware ah to your to your metal metal chest.
01:29:07
William Dunphey
um
01:29:07
Zzweilous
once it comes in the mail, right? Once it comes in the mail.
01:29:10
William Dunphey
Oh, yeah. Unless, um, Scaffo intercepts all of them and then you you won't have any medals. Um, shout out to Nezamethan traveling from the UK, the first European to win an event outside of EU soil, if I'm not mistaken.
01:29:16
Zzweilous
oh yeah
01:29:24
William Dunphey
So very, very impressive. And yeah,
Upcoming Events and Community Anticipation
01:29:27
William Dunphey
we're looking forward to LAIC and all the surprises that are in store. Maybe Shadow Fortress will win it all. You just have to tune in and find out. um I guess I can give ah just a really quick rundown of a few checklist things here. So we continue our jam-packed November. Lots of play Pokemon action with LAIC this weekend. We've got Sacramento next weekend, which is the same weekend as my brother's birthday.
01:29:51
William Dunphey
Then we've got Stuttgart rounding out the month and the max out meta from November 30th through December 1st. If you're listening to this, you have 212 days until June 13th with which you will not be able to earn any more championship points. So go to your local tournaments, go to your regional and compete.
01:30:09
William Dunphey
In terms of in-game events, we have the Harvest Festival right now. My only note here is shout out to SSThorn for winning Heydonis' prize tournament with Miltank because Miltank is a featured Pokémon during the Harvest Festival event and that's pretty much it. Upcoming in-game events are simply groundbreaking starting on November november the 15th, Wild Area Fukuoka on November 16th, and then Into the Wild begins November 18th. So we will get our Dialgos our paukias we will get some interesting spawns i think that um i is it toxicity is that the name of the pokemon that's coming
01:30:46
Zzweilous
i am i think I think it is toxicity like toxic and electricity. um And I'm quite excited for that because it is squishy, it is an electric type, and it might be interesting for PVP, probably not dominant, but interesting. And I love the interesting Pokemon.
01:31:04
William Dunphey
Yeah. Well, it's, it's going to resist fighting and it will resist flying as well, being a poison electric. So it is going to be double week to, uh, to ground, which hu thankfully we're not in a ground meta right now, right? Haha. Right. But, um,
01:31:20
William Dunphey
We will see what kind of utility it has. And as a side note, if you want to battle those ah Dynamax Pokemon, make sure to pick up some drill birds because Mudslap, Mudslap Excadrill is going to be your best counter in terms of Dynamax slash G-Max for that Pokemon. So it's going to be interesting. um I'm really happy that the events have tapered off just a little bit from Halloween because I was playing hard during the Halloween event. So now we're kind of coasting, but it's going to be an exciting couple of weeks.
01:31:49
Zzweilous
It is true, yeah. I don't mind the break either because, you know, it's like November, whether I live in a region where it's like essentially just rain clouds, rain clouds, rain clouds all the time. I don't know, like if there's like the the toxicity debut, I will definitely go out and play a lot more, but I didn't mind the break either.
01:32:10
William Dunphey
Sounds like a plan. I know both of us will will be watching LAIC. We can't wait to deliver all of our recap feedback, thoughts, and feelings regarding that tournament. When the dust settles, we make sure to tune into the official channels to check it all out this weekend, starting on Friday. It's a three day event, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. ah That being said, Zweilis, I think that's the end of our episode for this week. Thank you so much. I appreciate you per usual. And I can't wait to talk to you again when you have either won or come second place in another tournament.
01:32:40
Zzweilous
I won't even talk to you next week after LAIC, which I will not win because I will not be there.
01:32:46
William Dunphey
All right, well, we get one week, ah but after Stute Guard, it's anyone's game, right?
01:32:48
Zzweilous
It is true.
01:32:50
William Dunphey
All right, my friend, take care and I'll see you in the next one.